LBGTI history to be taught in Californian schools

LBGTI history to be taught in Californian schools

SCHOOL students in California will start learning about their country’s LGBTI history in a landmark addition to the school curriculum.

Education officials in California approved the changes on Thursday to comply with a new federal law that requires schools to include the history of LGBTI people and landmark historical dates for the community in class curriculum.

 “We are proud to represent a diverse state, and we are proud that this framework reflects the state that we serve,” Lauryn Wild, a Southern California curriculum specialist who chairs the advisory commission that produced the new guidelines, told the Associated Press.

From grade two students will learn about families with same-sex parents, Harvey Milk’s fight for gay rights in San Francisco and in later years they will learn about gender roles in the 18th and 19th centuries.

High school students will learn about the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide and court cases in North Carolina and Mississippi involving bathroom access for transgender students in US government school courses.

Carolyn Laub, consultant, Our Family Coalition – a group of LGBT parents – said despite the federal law passing in 2012, it took a long time for the changes to be made to Californian curriculum because some schools and teachers were nervous about adding LGBTI history to their classroom.

“If educators perceive, rightly or wrongly, they may not get support from their administration if they face pushback from a parent who says, ‘I don’t want you talking to my kid about that,’ they are reluctant to do a whole lot of inclusion,” she told Bakersfield Now.

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